The New Leaf™
The Official Newsletter of Authentic Promotion™
Volume 5, No. 37, September 16, 2003
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X
Molly Gordon, Master Certified Coach
PREVIEW
I'm almost ready to announce the first of the new Authentic
Promotion classes, which begin on October 1. Look for a bonus
mailing this week including a special discount for New Leaf
readers!
In This Issue
Fast Focus: Meditation on Change
Simple Gifts: Quick Inspiration
Open for Business: Dancing with Change
The Bedside Table: Money and the Meaning of Life
For Readers Only: Letters and Links
Quick Links: Resources
Small Print: Copyright | Getting On and Off the List
Privacy Statement | Contact Info
Fast Focus
Meditation on Change
We can count on change. It is inevitable. In a sense, it is
reliable. With attentive practice, we can learn to dance with
change, even rest in it, neither running toward nor away from it.
Resting in change is no small feat. It does not mean going to sleep
and denying life. Rather, it requires us to be vibrantly awake and
alive, fully responsive yet utterly surrendered.
We can feel how resisting change locks up our responses, hardens our
reflexes, sizzles our synapses. In contrast, learning to rest in and
dance with change can reveal the sweet spots where intuition,
creativity, desire, and insight reveal opportunities, fuel ambition,
and sustain performance and progress. It takes practice to rest in
change in this way. Why not start practicing right now?
Simple Gifts
The Jumpstart Guide to Promoting Your Ezine
When you take on any complex project, having a point of focus can be
the difference between success and failure. My Jumpstart Guide to
Promoting Your Ezine summarizes three strategies you can use to
build a loyal readership.
http://www.mollygordon.com/resources/marketingresources/ezinepromo.html
===>Pathfinders
Thanks to my friend and fellow coach, Suzanne Pedersen, for sharing
this story from The New York Times about how a group musicians
wrested meaningful music-making from the maws of the entertainment
industry, designing lives that work instead of oscillating between
fantasy and resentment. Take a peek: A Long Wait on Fame's Doorstep
for the Wrens by Hugo Lindgren.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/arts/music/10WREN.html?ex=1064209907&ei=1&en=61b94dbf46572f8c
Open for Business
Dancing with Change
If change is the only constant, it just makes sense to become
skillful at meeting it. In the spirit of an old song lyric, "When
you're skating on thin ice, you might as well dance." But what does
it mean to dance with change, and how is it done?
A good dancer is keenly aware of the music and thus can move with
it. So it is that when you learn to hear and move with the music of
change, you cannot help but become more skillful at meeting and
making changes.
But the music of change is often silenced or distorted by
resistance. Rather than opening up, welcoming and attending to every
nuance, you may be more likely to grasp at change or to push it
away. The good news is that learning to dance begins here, with your
resistance.
When you resist or contract or grasp, your mood may shift, your body
may become tight, you may feel muscle pain, emotional stress, mental
confusion or pressure. Like temple bells calling monks to meditate,
all these sensations and experiences are invitations to wake up, pay
attention, hear the music of change. The first practice then, is to
notice when you are contracting or resisting change.
When you've noticed this, you can respond to the temple bell by
practicing inquiry. Inquire as best you can from a mood of
curiosity, even wonder. Again, at first you may feel more like a
vengeful prosecutor, boring in with judgmental intensity. With
practice, you will find that you can inquire more gently yet more
deeply.
Here are some of the inquiries you might pose so that you can better
hear the music of change:
What can I notice about the nature of this change right now? Is it
fast or slow? Sudden or gradual? Where did it seem to come from?
Where am I feeling this change (or my response to it) in my body? Is
this physical reaction affecting my experience of this change? Is
this a necessary reaction? What would happen if I were not
responding in this way? Is there any way in which I am holding on to
this state in my body?
Are there ways in which I am resisting this change? Do I feel
resistance or contraction in my body? Where? How precisely can I
observe that? Do I have a story about what is wrong or problematic
about this change? How am I attached to that story? What is my pay
off for holding onto that story?
Who would I be without that resistance? What happens in my body?
What happens if I let go of that story? What happens if I drop the
desire for that payoff?
How am I relating to this change? Am I chasing it or trying to make
it happen? Does it feel like it is chasing me? What would happen if
I stopped running (after or away from change)? Could that be okay?
As you find answers to your inquiries, it is always interesting to
meet the answers with another set of questions: How do I know that?
Can I be sure? The point of these questions is not to hold a debate
with yourself, but to reveal ways that the music of what is actually
happening may be distorted by the filters of your preconceptions and
judgments.
Like learning any complex skill from how to walk to how to sing,
learning to dance with change takes time and practice, the kind of
practice that involves lots of failures. Is it worth it? I think so.
Learning to dance with change can reveal the sweet spots where
intuition, creativity, desire, and insight reveal opportunities,
fuel ambition, and sustain performance and progress.
This week, may the dance of change reveal many blessings for you and
all your endeavors.
===>SECRETS ON HOW TO PUBLISH A SELF-HELP BOOK…
FOR FREE!
Over at howmuchjoy.com, spaces are disappearing fast for the two
fall sections of Suzanne Falter-Barns's popular Self-Help Author's
Crash Course. This is the teleclass to take if you're considering,
toying with, actively developing, or trying to sell a self-help
book. Suzanne will share with you all the inside info she learned
while doing a major two-book deal with the world's biggest
publisher. You'll also gain a glorious new writing support group of
fellow self-help-authors-to-be.
The 12-session telecourse will begin soon; recordings are also
available for one week after each class. Right now, Suzanne's
offering a free taste of the Field Guide that goes with this course.
You'll get her "Got a Book in There?" questionnaire, which helps you
evaluate whether or not you really DO have a book to self-help book
to write. Plus you'll get tips on how to live like a writer, and
valuable trade secrets on how to find the right literary agent. To
receive the free, three-lesson course right away, send an email to
suzflt-36231@autocontactor.com Details and registration for her
course are at http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=59532&u=www.howmuchjoy.com/selfhelpbook.html
The Bedside Table
Money and the Meaning of Life
Money and the Meaning of Life, Jacob Needleman
A thoughtful, provocative, profound inquiry in to the relationship
between money and meaning and what Needleman calls "the new
poverty."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385262426/mollygordonperso
Authentic Promotion: Grow Your Business, Feed Your
Soul, Molly Gordon, MCC
"Molly Gordon offers an interesting and powerful structure for exploring
your interests and priorities. I couldn't stop myself from trying the
exercises -- they were that compelling with her clear and lively
examples. Try them all." Paula Yardley Griffin, Editor, Consulting
Today, www.consultingtoday.com
When you’re committed to providing value in
the world by doing your best work, marketing
and promotion are part of that work. Join me
in a life-changing, work-transforming journey
of self-discovery and commitment. Work through
my 12-week guide to marketing work that matters
and learn how to show up, serve, and prosper.
Free with every copy: membership in a readers'
listserv and a lifetime discount of 10% on all
Authentic promotion products and services
Sample chapter at http://www.learntolovemarketing.com; order at http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/netcart.asp?merchantid=29060&productid=1283526
Searching for a book or CD or other product on Amazon?
When you use these links to Amazon search engines you
support The New Leaf. Please visit and bookmark them today.
US: http://www.mollygordon.com/searchbook.html
UK: http://www.mollygordon.com/eurobook.html
For Readers Only
Letters and Links
In recent weeks we've added two sections to www.mollygordon.com
especially for New Leaf readers. They are the Readers Write and
Readers Links pages. I hope you'll take a minute to visit and book
mark both pages. The letters page offers connection and
inspiration and the links can put you in touch with like-minded
folks who offer a broad array of products and services. Enjoy!
Readers Write: http://www.mollygordon.com/newleaf/letters.html
Readers' Links: http://www.mollygordon.com/resources/readerlinks.html
See your thoughts in print. Send your letters to readers@mollygordon.com .
Quick Links
Resources
Free===>Pure Heart, Simple Mind. How to explore and deepen
your awareness of the mind-body connection and become a more
"embodied" being? Bi-monthly e-zine from Chartlie Badenhop .
http://www.seishindo.org/newsletter.html
Thank you for supporting The New Leaf by purchasing the products
and services recommended below. I personally test every product I
recommend, and every merchant will refund your investment if you are
not satisfied. If they don’t make it right, I will.
===>BRIDGE THE GAP: Call a meeting, hold a family reunion, or
convene a study group with participants from around the world
without leaving your home or office. $20 per hour for up to 50
participants. Discounts available for repeat use. For info (no
obligation), send a blank email to bridge@mollygordon.com .
===>Make Sales Without Selling: Kendall SummerHawk's
three-tape series, "What to Say if You Hate to Sell," shows
exactly how to have a respectful, authentic, thoughtful conversation
with prospects, a conversation that results in people asking if they
can hire you (how would you like that!?).
http://www.cartville.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=38272
===>Great Speaking: Especially for the professional speaker,
this e-zine includes tips on using the Internet to promote
your career and to earn passive revenue from your content.
Publisher Tom Antion is irreverent, sometimes irritating, and
incredibly successful. He provides solid value, too.
http://www.listpartners.com/cgi-local/subscribe?3122
===>Take Control of Your Day: Learn how to become more
efficient, effective, and productive so you can complete more
work in less time, and with less effort.
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=27096
Small Print
Copyright | Getting On and Off the List
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and
edited by Molly Gordon, MCC.Copyright (c) Shaboom Inc. (r) 2003.
All rights reserved. www.mollygordon.com
"Shaboom, Inc." and "Authentic Promotion" are registered trade or
service marks of Shaboom, Inc. All other trademarks are property
of their respective owners.
You may reprint material from "The New Leaf(tm)" in other
electronic or print publications provided the above
copyright notice and a link to http://www.mollygordon.com
is included in the credits. Please send me a copy of the
publication.
You can get off this list by going to http://www.mollygordon.com
or by sending an email to unsub@mollygordon.com.
When you forward this material, please send the entire
newsletter. Thanks!
Privacy Statement | Contact Info
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Life could be a dream…
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